Dec 10 2008
Leno to Air in Primetime Next Fall
Jay Leno will be bringing his late-night show to primetime, starting in fall 2009. The program, tentatively entitled “The Jay Leno Show,” will run weeknights at 10 p.m. on NBC.
The deal enables NBC to keep Leno, who is going to be replaced by Conan O’Brien in May on The Tonight Show. NBC announced in 2005 that O’Brien would take Leno’s 11:30 p.m. show in order to keep O’Brien from pursuing a deal with another network. Jimmy Fallon, late of Saturday Night Live, will replace O’Brien in the 12:30 slot.
In 1992, NBC chose to let David Letterman–then the host of its 12:30 a.m. program–to go to CBS rather than have him replace the retiring Johnny Carson. Letterman began his CBS tenure by routinely beating Leno.
Things changed in 1994 when Hugh Grant gave his famous confessional interview to Leno in the wake of his arrest while with prostitute, Divine Brown. You may remember Leno’s question to Grant, “What the hell were you thinking?”
Even since then, while Letterman has been number one for select weeks, Leno has been consistently the late-night ratings king. Meanwhile, O’Brien–like Letterman before him–has done all he can at 12:30 and wants to see what he can do in late-night’s toughest timeslot.
NBC hoped Leno would be ready to retire by May but the 58-year-old is well-known as a workaholic and wants to continue performing. ABC was rumored to be especially interested in hiring Leno should NBC have let him go. Fox, without a weeknight late show for some time, might have also been in the hunt.
In addition, NBC’s primetime lineup has slipped from first to fourth this decade. Giving Leno the 10 p.m. hour means the network needs to program just 17 hours a week instead of 22. NBC would then have time to fill holes in its sagging schedule while Leno is likely to improve on his 11:30 p.m. ratings.
I love Jay Leno’s version of the Tonight Show. I rarely watched Johnny, never watch Letterman, and only lend half an ear to Conan since he’s on after Jay. If Jay left, I’d go to bed early rather than watch anyone else. I hope his new show does well.
I’m actually excited that Jay Leno’s show is going to be on at 10. I’d rather watch his show than the crime dramas that are on and other junk. I’m also excited for Conan to take over. His show is hilarious!